Enhancing Accountability and Transparency of Security Forces in Ukraine

The main purpose of the project was to contribute to enhancing the capacities and involvement of local communities in maintaining public order, and to improve communication within the local security community: local authorities, security and police agencies, civil society, activists and local journalists. Among the Czech experts involved were representatives of the Czech Police, members of academia and non-governmental organizations. All events were attended by representatives of EU, NATO and OSCE advisory missions to Ukraine and of the Czech Republic’s Embassy in Kiev.

The first roundtable, organized in cooperation with the Institute of World Policy, took place in May 2015 in Kiev. Among the issues discussed were disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of members of non-state armed groups, screening of members of state security agencies and community policing. The event was attended by representatives of other partner organizations, which consequently co-organized the activities in Charkiv and Odessa. In the second phase of the project, held in June 2015, an informal meeting was held with volunteers and representatives of civil society, and subsequently the second roundtable took place in Charkiv with a focus on the practical experiences of the Municipal Police in Plzeň and NGO Open Society in monitoring police activities. In a similar format – an informal meeting with activists and roundtable at the Police Academy – was organized in September 2015 as part of a two-day visit to Odessa. A representative of the Police School of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic in Holešov attended this third phase of the project as a lecturer along with a   member of Czech regional unit for combating economic crime. In November 2015, PSSI organized a presentation of project findings for representatives of the Czech security community at the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

All the lectures and discussions were recorded and uploaded to the e-learning platform of the IRSEC Hub (International Relations and Security Affairs Resource Hub).

In addition, PSSI has created the online information platform ‘Ukraine Analytical Hub’ that is a sub-platform within the IRSEC Hub website. It gather unique expertise and analytical publications that relates to Ukraine from leading IRSEC Hub partners in Central and Eastern Europe as well as other world's top think tanks. Ukraine Analytical Hub has been supported by the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The project was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and NATO Public Diplomacy Division.